Re: Plotting vector-valued functions
- To: mathgroup@smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg10531] Re: [mg10456] Plotting vector-valued functions
- From: seanross@worldnet.att.net
- Date: Tue, 20 Jan 1998 02:23:17 -0500
- References: <199801160934.EAA08223@smc.vnet.net.>
Malcolm Boshier wrote:
>
> I have a problem which is related to the recent thread about
> plotting lists of functions. In the case when a vector-valued function
> is expensive or impossible to Evaluate before plotting, Plot apparently
> forces you to evaluate the function repeatedly at each value of the
> independent parameter. This can be very inefficient.
> As an example, suppose that f[z] returns the eigenvalues of a 5 x 5
> matrix which is a function of z. In general this function cannot be
> evaluated without a value for z, so
> Plot[ Evaluate[f[z]], {z, zmin, zmax}] doesn't work.
> The only way around this that I have found is something like:
>
> Plot[{f[z][[1]], f[z][[2]], f[z][[3]], f[z][[4]], f[z][[5]]}, {z, zmin,
> zmax}]
>
> which of course requires 5 evaluations of f[z] for each value of z.
> It seems that unless the head of the first argument to Plot is List,
> Plot assumes that it will evaluate to a real number and returns with an
> error if it later finds that it doesn't. Why can't Plot trust the user
> long enough to discover that the function will evaluate to a list?
> Thanks for any solutions or explanations, Malcolm
I tend to use the "function that remembers its values" construct. For
example:
f[x_]:=f[x]=Module[{},Return[{f1,f2,f3}]]
g[x_]:=Module[{},Return[{g1,g2,g3}]]
This function returns a vector. Suppose I want to graph all three
components on the same graph
Plot[{f[x][[1]],f[x][[2]],f[x][[3]]},{x,low,high}]
The f function executes once for every point. The second and third
values are just look-ups. On the other hand
Plot[{g[x][[1]],g[x][[2]],g[x][[3]]},{x,low,high}]
The g function executes 3 times for every point.
If memory is a problem, then you can Clear it after the graph.
--
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- References:
- Plotting vector-valued functions
- From: Malcolm Boshier <m.g.boshier@sussex.ac.uk>
- Plotting vector-valued functions